Zak Brown, Albert Park, Melbourne, 2020

Quitting race ‘hardest decision’ for Brown as 14 more McLaren staff quarantined

2020 F1 season

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McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says his decision to withdraw McLaren from the Australian Grand Prix, which led to the cancellation of the race, was both “difficult” and “easy” to take.

Brown praised the subsequent move to cancel the race, which came almost 12 hours after his team revealed one of its members had tested positive for the Coronavirus.

“I applaud the decision by F1, the FIA and the [Australian Grand Prix Corporation] to cancel the Australian GP,” he said. “The health and safety of the F1 family and local community must come first.”

McLaren announced they would not participate in this weekend’s race immediately after learning one of their team had contracted the Coronavirus.

“As a racer, this was the most difficult decision I have had to take,” said Brown. “As a CEO, it was the easiest decision to take.”

The team has confirmed 14 further members of staff have been quarantined at the team’s hotel, where they will remain for the next two weeks, supported by senior team personnel. All 14 had been in close contact with the team member who tested positive for the Coronavirus.

The remaining staff will return to the UK, but will not join the team at their base for another two weeks as a further precaution.

The cancellation of the race has thrown doubt onto forthcoming rounds. The next event on the calendar, the Bahrain Grand Prix, was due to take place the following weekend. Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, the sovereign wealth fund of the kingdom, is the majority owner of McLaren. However even if the race is able to go ahead, its team may not be able to participate in it.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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9 comments on “Quitting race ‘hardest decision’ for Brown as 14 more McLaren staff quarantined”

  1. “As a racer, this was the most difficult decision I have had to take,” said Brown. “As a CEO, it was the easiest decision to take.”

    And as the ones to pull the trigger first, McLaren have my utmost respect.

    Is this the same Zak I used to criticize in 2018? My increasing waistline is likely due to the humble pie I’ve been eating since 2019.

  2. Hats off to McLaren. They are once again a progressive team…

  3. Been more impressed with Brown the longer he is in the sport. He made the right call.

    Speaking of calls, someone needs to call out Darren Heath, the brilliant F1 photographer, who is pedalling unhelpful and dismissive views on this. From Twitter:

    “I’m perplexed how it can be this bad. #f1 history is riven with poor decisions and official ineptitude but we are likely witnessing the nadir right here, right now… #AustralianGP #coronavirus”

    It doesn’t matter what you think, it’s a pandemic. This is the problem with social media – so many people think their opinion should be treated equally with facts. It’s dangerous, and Darren should think more before being so flippant.

    1. @roodda – is he criticizing the decision to cancel, or the manner in which the decision was made? What you’ve quoted above seems to be the latter (especially with his use of “official ineptitude”), an opinion shared by many of us.

    2. That tweet was posted half an hour before the official announcement that the GP would be cancelled. I wouldn’t be sure he isn’t criticising precisely the opposite of what you think he is – that race organisers were persisting, until the eleventh hour, with the claim the race was going to go ahead.

    3. Unfollow him if you dont like his opinion. I wish i could make your pearl clutching posts go away half as easioly.

  4. @phylyp fair question. Maybe it’s a bit of both? He’s been quite critical in the lead up to it, saying the whole virus thing was nonsense during an IG live session. I think he’s right if talking about taking too long to make the decision, as well as the different comms coming out. But if you link it to being “perplexed how it can be this bad” I take “it” to mean Covid-19.

    1. @roodda – yeah, that makes sense as well.

  5. Respect to Brown. Good man and good CEO

Comments are closed.